


Touches

by emmaginative_fanfiction



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Aliens, Begging, Bottom Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Cave, Dom Spock (Star Trek), Fluff, Handcuffs, Hands, Holding Hands, Injured Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Kissing, Leonard "Bones" McCoy & Spock Friendship, M/M, Massage, Neck Kissing, One Shot, Poison, Poor Bones, Protective Spock (Star Trek), Rescue Missions, Short One Shot, Sick Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Sickness, Snogging, Surprise Kissing, Top Spock, Touch-Starved, Touching, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Whump, always being the scapegoat, poisoned, ropes, spones - Freeform, stuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26071900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmaginative_fanfiction/pseuds/emmaginative_fanfiction
Summary: When Bones is bound and briefly held hostage after a failed mission, Spock has to figure out not only how to rescue him from the ropes, but also from a slow killing poison.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy & Spock, Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55





	Touches

Ok so this hadn’t been going to plan at all - not in the slightest - not in a million years could this have gone any worse. Bones was blaming Kirk for it all. He was blaming him SO HARD. He was also blaming Spock. He was blaming all of them except himself. He knew that the others were blaming him right at this moment anyway so why should he. They HAD to be... Not that they had any reason to, OH NO no no! It wasn’t HE who had been running up to the weird men in latex suits asking if they were friendly as they were pointing guns at them. It wasn’t HE who had almost been shot five times and still refused to take cover or take action. He only happened to get in the way between the captain and the gun at one point and thus get shot. How was he supposed to know this “meant war” for the other humanoid looking creatures? Kirk didn’t know, and Spock didn’t know - at least the green blooded bastard didn’t say anything. Good lord it all had happened so fast…

So, here he was, trapped in some sort of dirty cave, bound to a chair with thick bright orange ropes and handcuffs - not able to move an inch. He took a deep sigh. He agreed to be the one being captured simply to make up for the gnawing anxiety that HE might be the one single cause for this whole roller coaster in the first place (and to ease the cold stare Kirk had been giving him), but he truthfully wasn’t comfortable stuck to this chair. It didn’t help that it was getting colder, and the cave was dark like it was in the middle of the night. The gun that shot him hadn’t had any bullets to penetrate him but it had certainly made a mark on his collarbone where it struck him. Still, no bullets, no electricity, no real pain. It was very confusing.

An hour passed by. As Bones wondered if he should try to sleep for a while he heard the similar sounds of transportation from somewhere far up in the opening of the cave. He only managed to think “please don’t be Spock” three times before he saw the vulcan making his way down the grotto with a bright flashlight in his hand. The flashlight got in Bones’ eyes, and since he couldn’t really decide if he was happy to see someone or really annoyed by it, he instantly got annoyed.

“Did they really let you down here, or did you sneak past anyone?” he asked before Spock could even say a word.  
“It’s nice to see you too, Doctor” Spock said as he awkwardly made his way over the tough terrain - “I hope you haven’t tried to escape on your own”

McCoy raised an eyebrow at his friend and tried to look serious - and NOT ashamed. But he was. He was ashamed. Hell would break loose before he were to admit that though.

“Did you come to free me or just talk?”  
“Actually, both”  
“Good joke” Bones said, sarcasm thick in his voice.

Spock went around to the back of the chair that McCoy was stuck to, “well” he said, “actually I really wanted to talk.”  
McCoy was a bit taken aback - “Really?”  
“Yes”

As Spock walked around the chair again, he stared seriously into the doctor’s eyes as he was flashing the light in them (“HEY!”) and asked - “How are you feeling?”

“Could you blaze that thing somewhere else?” Bones yelled, trying to ignore what the vulcan just had said. This was all too weird.  
“Would you be so kind and cooperate with me.”

Bones blinked a few times and forced himself to look into the eyes of Spock. He noticed that he was uncomfortably close.

“How are you feeling, Doctor?” Spock asked again  
“Could you back up a bit?” McCoy answered and felt that he tried to push himself back in the chair as much as he could. Spock looked mildly confused - as confused as a vulcan could be anyway.

“I’m not anywhere near you”  
“Spock… You’re making me uncomfortable”

The light disappeared as Spock removed the flashlight from his eyes. Bones blinked a few times before he realised that Spock - absolutely - wasn’t near him. He was about two meters away, just like before.

“You moved!” he said, since that was the only logical reason. But he wasn’t as sure as he tried to sound.  
“Look up” Spock said and pointed the flashlight upwards. Without complaint, Bones looked up. The ceiling of the grotto was filled with spikes and stalactites, but it was very high up. As Bones focused on it though, he got the sensation of it moving. He knew it couldn’t be him - he was stuck to the chair. The spikes were moving in patterns, slowly but surely, and then started to go upwards away from him. As Bones focused more on them he realised that it wasn’t them moving away - it was him that was sinking. Sinking through the ground. He wanted to look down, or at Spock, or at anything but the spikes - but his gaze was stuck. He tried to speak, he had to tell Spock - he had to be saved! But the only thing leaving his lips was a tiny gasp - he couldn’t say anything.

It felt like hours before Spock removed the light, and like awakening from a dream he was thrown back to where he was and could move his head freely again. He took a few deep breaths. He felt lightheaded.

“Doctor?”  
“Yes Spock?”  
“How are you feeling?”

Bones stared at him

“What is this? 20 questions? Messing with McCoy until he goes completely insane?”

Spock just stared at him, but the doctor thought he could see a tiny smile finding its way onto his lips.

“Not at all, I just have to make sure if the poison is working or not” Spock said as he made his way around McCoy’s back again. The doctor licked his lips, feeling how he despite the cold cave had managed to become hot.

“Are you out of your mind? I’m not poisoned”  
“Yes, you are”  
“What happened on the ship anyway?”  
“I cannot tell you that right now”  
“Then tell me what you are doing behind my back… Literally?”

Spock didn’t answer, but Bones could suddenly feel him touching his hands. He instinctively tried to drag them away, but he was as stuck as he could be. Spock could feel him moving though, as he said

“Be still Doctor”  
“Could you at least tell me what you’re doing?”

He swore he could hear Spock sigh, before he started talking - “you’re bound by smart ropes”  
“Come again?”  
“I don’t know either” Spock said with heaviness in his voice, like not knowing something was the same as being convicted of murder - “we wanted to send Scotty to look at these but the inhabitants of this planet didn’t want any more humans to beam down, ever”  
“But they let you?”  
“Correct”  
“And you have to untie me?”  
“Correct”  
“... But you… Can’t?”  
“Correct”

Bones sighed. He was confused. He hated being confused. Confusion only leads to trouble, like being stuck to a chair in a cave and apparently going mad. That’s what confusion does to you.

“W-Wait a minute, why did they send you if you don’t know how to do it? We could be here for hours?”  
“I believe that is their point…” Spock said as he moved around behind Bones back. He couldn’t see him, but he could hear him. “They only agreed to let you go if I could free you”  
“Oh, I feel really safe now…” Bones said, heavy on the sarcasm.

\- ✧ -

A few minutes went by without them saying anything to each other. Bones was a bit afraid he had hurt Spock’s feelings with his last complaint, but then realised that Spock didn’t have any feelings and that it was therefore unworthy to be afraid of something like that. He tried to help freeing himself somewhat by moving his feet and arms to loosen the ropes, but Spock just told him “stop”

“Stop? Is that all? … Are you getting anywhere?”  
“It would be much easier if you could cooperate Doctor-”  
“What do you think I’m trying to do!?”  
“- by sitting completely still”  
“Fine… I give up”

Bones shut his eyes for a moment. If Spock was here, he would be able to solve it. He always was. Why would he bother? Stupid, ugly, know-it-all ...

“... Doctor-”  
“What is it now Spock?”  
“I thought I told you to please sit still”  
“I am?”  
“No you… You’re shaking”

Bones opened his eyes. He WAS shaking. How hadn’t he noticed?

“Well… It’s cold down here.”  
“Not THAT cold” Spock said as he moved in front of his coworker once again. Bones closed his eyes shut.

“Well are you done soon or not!?”  
“Doctor, look at me”  
“I prefer to get out of this with my sight intact, thank you very much!”  
“I won't use it” Spock said quietly. Slowly but surely, Bones looked up at him, but had barely done so until the harsh light from the flashlight shone into his eyes. He was about to yell, to shut his eyes again, but he couldn’t. The light was hypnotising. It was everything. He felt exactly like that time he had gotten too drunk, and everything started to spin until he found himself on the floor experiencing sleep paralysis for the first time.

That had been scary. This was scary.

The light moved slightly, until it narrowed. It looked like a long tunnel. He could see the end of the tunnel disappearing, like he once again was being dragged out from it. He could feel the wind as he was moving faster and faster. The wind was taking his own breath, making it hard to breath. It was so hard to breath…

He was suddenly jerked awake, like waking up from a really awful nightmare. The light was gone. From the weak light from the flashlight by their feet he could see Spock’s face close to his, examining him.

“McCoy?” he quietly asked, voice filled with a worry that not even his vulcan side could hide anymore. Bones was livid.  
“If I could, I would punch you…” he said, teeth gritted, but was surprised to hear his own voice weakened and raspy. He was also very sweaty, and his breathing was deep but painful. Like he had been underwater for a bit too long. Spock's face hadn't changed, and it started to scare him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”  
“I’m not sure how to deal with this…” Spock said, quietly.  
“... What!?” Bones said, almost laughing “come on now, continue with the ropes, let’s get away from here. I’ll be fine, if you just stop giving me seizures with that thing…”  
“They aren’t seizures Doctor, you are poisoned”  
“Yes, you said that before…”  
“And you aren’t worried?”

He looked tiredly at Spock. He was about to say that HE was the doctor around here, when another thought caught his mind.

“What do you know about this that I don’t?”

Spock answered by lifting his hand and gently touching Bones on his collarbone where he had been stunned. His shirt had been ripped by the force, so it was skin to skin as he gently dragged two fingers along the hidden mark. McCoy was about to flinch, but to his surprise he didn’t feel anything - nothing at all. Spock removed his hand.

“They carried the guns on the ship as well” he said, “they shot a few of our men…”

Bones tried to breath as quietly as he could, “and..?”  
“They, well, after a while they…”

Spock stopped talking as they got eye contact again.

“They died” he then said, stone faced. It was so sudden that Bones just blinked at him, and before he knew it Spock had wandered to the other side of him again.

“Oh… ‘lright?” he said shakinly, as Spock clearly didn’t wish to continue the conversation - “... Just hurry will ya?”

\- ✧ -

A few more minutes passed as Spock poked, dragged and gently tried to move the ropes and unlock the handcuffs binding Bones to the chair. Sometimes the doctor wondered if it wouldn’t just be easier carrying the whole chair out, then he remembered that the aliens probably waited for them outside the cave to kill them if that were to be the case.

He almost fell asleep a couple of times, which he thought would be a very bad idea, especially with some kind of poison in his system. But as Spock's hands were always close to his, they sometimes managed to brush by his own, keeping him awake by the warm touch. He was still shaking though, and even though Spock didn’t seem to care that much in the beginning he eventually sighed and said-

“Doctor… This wont work”  
“What?” McCoy said, startled awake again. Spock was walking around to face him again. Bones closed his eyes.

“... Doctor-”  
“No”  
“Look at me”  
“Never!”  
“I-”  
“You’ve betrayed my trust for the last time!” 

He tried to sound angry and determined without sounding like a bratty child (he WAS strapped to a chair and shutting his eyes in pure annoyance after all) but his voice was still raspy and it didn’t sound as extreme as he had hoped.

He could hear Spock move and suddenly felt a hand on his cheek. Startled, he opened his eyes.

“What-”  
“Look at me!”

With Spock’s hand still resting on his cheek, he carefully looked deep into the vulcan's eyes. They were really deep in this dim light, and dark. “Doctor?”

Bones didn’t answer. He was captivated by Spock’s eyes, his deep, brown, eternal eyes. He never realised…

Spock on the other hand was flicking between McCoy’s eyes and couldn’t keep focus. He started to look away but the doctor was, once again, stuck. The stare wasn’t scary, but uncanny. He removed his hand from Bones cheek.

“McCoy… You’re making me uncomfortable”

That seemed to do the trick. Bones blinked a few times, then blinked some more to get the tears away from his sore eyes that had been opened for too long. “Damn it… What did you do!?”  
“I didn’t do anything Doctor. What is the last thing you remember?”  
“You ASKED ME to look at you, and everytime you do that something happens to me!” Bones was furious - “so it HAS TO be you!”

Spock rolled his eyes somewhat, and paused as to think of different ways to handle the situation, but eventually he gave up.

“Listen Doctor, the poison works by light. The lighter the surrounding environment is, and the longer the person is exposed to it, the quicker and worse the poison will work, but I cannot figure out exactly HOW it works or why-”  
“Because you’re not a doctor, Spock”  
“Oh no? So do you know how it works, DOCTOR?”  
“OF COURSE I don’t!”

Spock sighed again, trying to keep his cool, “so I decided that I could figure it out while freeing you and then we could tend to it before moving to the ship, otherwise-”  
“Otherwise I’ll die as soon as we leave the cave” McCoy suddenly realised. He shut his eyes. He felt sick.  
“Exactly. But…”  
“Yes?”  
“It seems it reacts with you already in a very strong way, and your shaking is making it harder for me to actually untie you at all, I can’t handle... I am afraid you will already be too long gone by the time you’re free…”

Oh.

Spock stood up. He slowly made his way around the back of the chair again. The doctor couldn’t decide if the vulcan was determined or filled with some sort of grief, but his steps were heavier now. Hey now, he wasn’t dead YET!?

“So... So this is the end?”  
“Not really…”

Before Bones could ask, he would feel Spock’s hands cup his own. Instinctively he tried to drag them away, but they wouldn’t move. Spock let his hands gently just hold McCoys for a while, simply moving his thumbs in his palms.

“... WHAT are ya-”  
“Just relax”

McCoy didn’t want to relax, he wanted to be free, to run away from this mess. He shut his eyes again. If the dim light from behind him was about to make this poison shit worse then he wouldn’t risk it by looking at all.

He could feel how Spock moved his hands from his own up his arms and eventually resting on his shoulders. Still with his eyes shut he simply asked, “Spock what are you doing?”

Spock didn’t answer at first. He moved his left hand down to McCoys collarbone where the impact from the gun was. The shift from Spock’s hot vulcan hands to the cold nothingness of the numb wound was even clearer now. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the wound that was on Bones mind the strongest right now. It was Spock’s hands… The warmth, the soft way they moved and the easy touches. The fact that they reacted to his body so well, despite never being this close before.

“As I said, just relax. It might save your life…” Spock said as he came closer. He let his fingers wander along the doctor's neck, then along his back as best as he could because of the chair. McCoy let his head fall forwards, still with his eyes shut hard. “If I pretend this isn’t happening, then maybe it isn’t happening …” he tried to tell himself. Having Spock - of all people - touching him was too good. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t real life. He was dreaming. Right, this was a dream! He fell asleep, and this is a dream.

Spock slowly let his hands wander back up McCoys shoulders, and down his arms again. As he did so he leaned forwards. Before Bones could react, Spock planted a kiss on the back of his neck. The suddenness of it took him by surprise and he let out a small gasp as he tensed all over his body. NOPE - This was NOT a dream!

Spock let his head rest on Bones back as his hands made their way down to get intertwined with the doctors hands once again. He couldn’t really move them but he could move his fingers. He tried his best to just relax as Spock had told him, but another voice in the back of his mind was screaming at him to just let it go. As Spock played with his hands, he eventually loosened up, and too started to grip on Spock’s fingers. The vulcan answered by planting another kiss on his neck, and then on his upper back, and the side of his neck. As he moved to the side, McCoy let his head slightly move to the other side. Damn, he was enjoying this far too much...

As the shock from the first kiss slowly turned into pleasure, the tenseness in his body turned to a slight shiver. Good thing he had been shivering and shaking for the past hour or so - maybe Spock wouldn’t notice.

… Something told him he did though.

“How is it?” Spock gently whispered far too close to McCoys ear.

Bones didn’t know what to say. How do you explain? How do you combine years of longing and thinking into a few words in such a short time? The sensation of everything forbidden you’ve wanted finally happening without your brain having a second to even react to it.

“Please…” was the only thing he could whisper. It was quiet, weak, pathetic. He felt pathetic.

Spock let his head nuzzle in Bones neck. The pathetic feeling in McCoy slightly disappeared. He felt Spock kissing his neck again, making his way to his ear, responding to the soft moans unwillingly coming from the doctor as he grasped the vulcan's hands in his own as hard as he could. Spock slowly let go of them and moved up, gently massaging the doctor’s neck and shoulders with long, tender movements. Close and very timid, his incredibly warm vulcan hands finding nerves and muscles that Bones barely knew he had (well, he did know, he’s a goddamn doctor, he just didn’t care about them until now).

Slowly, McCoy started to get the feeling he was being dipped into ice cold water, his ears slowly getting filled with white noise. He tried to fight the nauseating feeling, but Spock gently told him to “relax, trust me”, and to his surprise, he did. He took a deep breath, and let it happen. As the numbness in his shoulder slowly disappeared and instead took its way down his arm, and as Spock gently touched him all over his back, his neck and arms, he let himself finally relax, though unwanted and unrealistically. Like a doll getting its strings slowly burned off. It took a while for the feeling to go, and he felt utterly dizzy.

When he could see straight again in the soft darkness, he could see Spock in front of him. Before he could say anything, the vulcan softly cupped the doctor’s head with his hands. His eyes swam in front of Bones - he was incredibly close. He was sure the vulcan said something, but he didn’t register it. Before he could ask though, Spock leaned forwards and gently kissed him. Letting go of his head Spock sat down on top of McCoy’s lap using him as a chair, and let his arms hang on his shoulders, as the kiss finished.

Bones looked at him, opening his mouth to speak but nothing came. He was completely lost for words. His eyes lingered at Spock’s lips, and in a second they were kissing again. This time with both of them being into it. Passionate, deep. Bones did no longer care if this was a dream, hallucination or if he already was dead and this was some sort of heaven - if Spock was into it, then he was too. They stopped for some second to look at each other again, breathing heavily, before continuing.

Spock moved his hands to McCoy’s hair making the doctor shiver again, then the vulcan shifted away from his lap. Before Bones could really react, Spock moved away from the kiss, and had the flashlight in his hands shining him in the eyes.

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

McCoy moved his arms and hands to his face to shield from the light. To his surprise, he could. His arms felt like spaghetti as he smacked himself in the face. Spock had moved from his lap and was now pulling away the doctor’s arms from his face. Bones was shutting his eyes hard.

“You’re free Doctor”  
“I can see that”  
“Please look at me”  
“Are you TRYING to kill me!?”

He could feel the blush on his face still lingering. The sudden movement from whatever just had happened to being shone on by something resembling a small sun hadn’t registered in his body quite yet. Please just remove the light…

“I was hoping you were trusting me by now” Spock said as he let go of McCoy’s arms.

The doctor sighed. Frustrated he opened his eyes. He looked into the flashlight, he looked at Spock, he looked at the flashlight, he swallowed.

“Can you please take that away from me…”

Spock did.

“It seems you are alright for now”  
“Is that so?”  
“Let’s go”

McCoy made his way to stand up, but his legs were as wobbly as his arms. “Who the fuck boiled my limbs..?”  
“That would have been me” Spock joked, coming to the doctor’s aid when he realised that he had trouble walking.

He made his way to Bones to take his arm, when the doctor held up a hand. “Wait…” He stood shakingly by the chair for a while, looking at Spock, who looked at him with his best poker face. Not one feeling of McCoy’s to mirror itself in the vulcan’s face. Not a trace of regret, shame, arousement. Nothing.

McCoy opened his mouth. Then he closed it.

“Nevermind… Let’s get out of here.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a very quick one shot I decided to write - Since my arm currently is in "no draw"-mode I had to do SOMETHING to let my creativity flow. I really wanted to make this a comic though, so maybe I'll add some drawings of it in the future.


End file.
